Sunday 10th February was the start of the Chinese New Year, known as Spring Festival. This year it is the Year of the Snake. Chinese students from Years 12 and 13 prepared seasonal delicacies such as pork dumplings for the Prep School pupils to sample and gave a talk about Chinese traditions associated with this time of year. There was a short video and quiz, followed by an opportunity for the pupils to try some Chinese-style paper cutting. The food was so popular that it had to be rationed!

(‘Kung Hei Fat Choi’ means ‘Happy New Year’)

Year 6 Enjoy Drusillas Zoo

On the 16th of May Year 6 went to Drusillas Zoological Park near Alfriston. Everyone was able to find out about classification in the Education Centre and there was plenty of information about all the different species that we were going to see. There was a chance to get close to a very docile corn snake and a very soft chinchilla. Some people found out how loud they could scream, or how fast they could run! Booklets were filled in with information comparing ourselves to the animals. Finally, after lunch and time in the adventure playground, we went on a train ride around the park. A fun and informative day was had by all.

Year 7 at Herstmonceux Science Observatory

On May 4th Year 7 went to the Royal Observatory at Herstmonceux. The Observatory has over 100 hands-on science exhibits as well as several large reflecting and refracting telescopes. Everyone had a very exciting day painting with light (when they could get Mr Hawes off it!), discovering how many people you could get to make the balance boat stable and discovering all about the telescopes and how observations had been made in the past. It took 8 people in the water park to make the pumps and levers work but eventually we managed to get a cycle going, even if we got a bit wet in the process! Miss Sims’ group proved themselves excellent bridge builders and walked away with the fastest time of the day. A good time was had by all and lots of new and exciting facts were discovered.

Year 8 Visit Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

May 8th saw Year 8 leave to visit the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Whilst there students explored HMS Warrior, which in its time was the fastest and best armed ship in the fleet. Each student saw the conditions and hardships of life on board a historic naval vessel and looked at the food and munitions that the ship carried. They were shown the treatments for wounds and illnesses that would have been available to the men who lived on board. In the Action Stations work room they had a glimpse of what the modern Navy does and on the big screen cinema the students saw how a modern day Frigate can help combat piracy. The science behind the ships was explained and everyone had a look at the way the engines worked and the problems of buoyancy. There was then a chance to race to the top of the indoor climbing wall. After such a busy day it was not surprising that many people fell asleep on the coach back to school!

Early on Sunday May 6th five students from the Prep School went to Bredon School near Tewkesbury for the second round of the Oxford Gun Company Clay Shooting Schools Challenge. There was a mixture of targets to challenge all competitors. The team – Charles Jeffrey, John Durkan, Jack Hubbard, Benjamin Cutler and Isabella Harte achieved second place in the Prep School category, only missing the top slot by one point. Isabella came first in the Individual Prep Girls. Congratulations to all who took part!

On Tuesday 20th March an audience of 200 or more were treated to a marvellous show of talent from the Prep School pupils. There were over 100 performers taken from Years 3-8. The standard of solos was exceptional. The massed instruments, recorders, ukuleles and violins, had to be seen to be believed. There were performances from Years 3, 4 and 5 music classes plus others groups: violins, ukuleles, ‘Concussion’ (percussion ensemble), the Orchestra and the Wilberforce choir.

Everybody had a fantastic time in a lovely relaxed environment. Year 5 pupil, Felicity Hitchcock, reported in her account of the evening: ‘The children sang and played amazing pieces while the parents sat with nibbles and wine.’‘I take my hat off to them for pulling that off’ commented Mr Randon, the drum teacher.

On Wednesday March 14th, a team from the Prep School entered The Schools Challenge at the Oxford Gun Company for the first time. Their aim was outstanding. Isabella Harte came first in her individual class. Charles Christie, Ben Cutler, John Durkan, Jack Hubbard and Charles Jeffrey achieved second place in their team event.

Congratulations to all who took part. Thanks must go to the parents who came to support us, Mr and Mrs Christie and Mr and Mrs Cutler, and to Tony Bracci, our coach. Without Mr Bracci’s commitment and hard work we would not have gained such an excellent result.

We are hoping to enter the British Schools and Young Shots Championships on the 28th April at High Wycombe.

On Thursday March 8th the Prep School House Music competition took place. There were some excellent performances. Maddy Chandler, Katie Kittermaster and Jamie Pardie won first prize in the vocal section of their respective year groups and Lottie Hubbard, Fliss Hitchcock and Amy Gray were first in the instrumental sections. Jamie Pardie and Lexie White triumphed in the vocal ensemble class.

The competition was run over two rounds. The first round was open to anyway who played a musical instrument or sang. Mr Weaver awarded 5 points for entering and 10 each for musical content and performance. There were over forty pupils who entered this part of the competition. The second round, the ‘finals’, was whittled down to twenty performers and adjudicated by Mr. Buckman in front of all the Prep School pupils.

Apart from the individual performances there was a House song competition. This year the song chosen was ‘Stand by Me’. Both houses did an excellent job of this but Norwood were chosen winners. However, when all the points were added up, ‘Springfield’ were the overall winners with 577 to ‘Norwood’s’ 541.

This was a fantastic event and the winners and runners-up will all perform in the Musical Soiree on the 20th March.

We were very lucky to see a stage show of Swallows and Amazons on the 19th January at Chichester Festival Theatre. The show was really great and all about 4 children named Roger, Titty, John and Susan who were all going on a boat to an island named Wild Cat Island. When on the island, they met with two other children called the Amazon pirates. They then have a challenge to see who could steal each others boats. When the Swallows win, they try to capture Captain Flint who had not been paying any attention to them and had blamed them for everything, so they had a war and made him walk the plank.

The plank was a trap door. It was an amazing special effect. There were such simple effects which made a big difference. For instance, a bottle of water to make a splashing sound, water was two ropes for when Roger tried to swim. For Harpies, they made a bird made out of garden scissors and bin liners. The parrots were made with feather dusters!

It was a great play and the director happened to be the director of War Horse. The music was really well put together, for instance, in the Swallows song one person would make the main tune and the rest created other parts like an orchestra.

It finished off with a Swallows and Amazon song and I was very sad it ended.

By Millie Gray, Year 4 pupil